For God and Fatherland
by BlarkBlark124
Summary: On January 19th, 1919, the guns of the great powers fell silent at last. Now, over two hundred and fifty years later, with humanity being a new member of a thriving galactic community, the Deutsches Kaiserreich and it's allies face challenges that even Bismarck could never have envisioned.
1. Chapter 1

**December 10, 1918**

I hear the whistle blow, my hands tightening around my submachine gun in preparation for the assault. This was to be the final offensive before the attack on Paris. The French army were collapsing fast; the British not far behind, though their naval blockade still starved our citizens. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of our shells had hit the French lines over the course of the last week; with the new forces coming from the Eastern Front, we had a huge advantage over the Entente. A colossal roar of "Für Gott und Vaterland!" arises from my trench. I feel my mouth opening and roaring the words, though I don't recall consciously doing so. As a thousand Germans climb the ladders and begin the run towards the French trench, the rattle of machine-gun fire takes down several of my compatriots. The sound of total war is impossible to do justice to with words; it is a rolling thunder that shocks all the senses into utter clarity, as if one had been blind before and is seeing for the first time in their lives. In a way, it's beautiful. There's no other experience that so encapsulates the measure of a man; nowhere else will a man's mettle be tested in a purer way than the moment where nothing but survival matters.

I dive into a shellhole as artillery fire cracks around me, pressing myself into the earth for dear life and cowering under my steel helmet, perhaps for thirty seconds, perhaps for an hour. One loses all sense of time during a bombardment. As the barrage ends, I grab my gun from where it had landed some two meters away and resume my charge. A mud-stained blue coat appears in front of me, and without hesitation, I squeeze the trigger of my gun. The uniform turns red and purple as blood from several bullet wounds seeps into it. Perhaps the man had a family; a wife and children who would stand there hopefully at the train station, only to be handed a folded flag, however I have no time to ponder the matter. It's kill or be killed, and I was faster on the trigger. I throw myself bodily into the French trench, pushing my MP-18 over my shoulder and pulling out my spade and pistol as I do so. A Frenchman runs up to me, bayonet fixed, but I cleave through him with my shovel. In the corner of my eye, I see another one raising his rifle. A grenade from one of the other stormtroopers is dropped into the trench right next to him and pieces of him fly in different directions. Albert drops into the trench next to me. He has taken a minor shrapnel wound to the lower leg, but is otherwise fine.

As I drag him into an empty dugout to bandage his leg, he shouts.

"I'm fine, I can still shoot, get the fuck out of here!"

I pull a grenade out, unscrew the cap, and pull the cord. I toss it into the path between the front line and support trench, feeling a grim sense of satisfaction when a blue-uniformed arm flies into the air, unattached to the man. All the while I see the signs of victory; several Frenchmen are surrendering, some shouting to retreat to the rear support trenches. I pull out my submachine gun once again. More Frenchmen come at me as I move into the communication trenches, only to be cut down by combined rifle and machine gun fire from my compatriots. Eventually, the sound of gunfire dies down, and is replaced by the clatter of Lebel and RSC rifles being thrown on the ground, the Frenchmen pleading for surrender. Interestingly enough, only about half of the troops here are white; they seem to be using a lot more colonial troops as of late. Are native Frenchmen simply refusing to fight a war that has taken so many of them, or are they running out of men? Worth pondering later, maybe. I grab some captured wine and cheese as I sit down in a dugout, sweat pouring down my face and soaking the undershirt under my thick wool tunic as I do so.

I remember my first trench assault. It was 1915, I was 16 years old and fresh out of training, having faked my age when I enlisted. My best friend, who grew up alongside me, died screaming as a shell stripped the skin off of his stomach, turning him into some perverse exhibition of human organs. That was the moment that my innocence died, and a true, boiling _hatred_ for the French took root. At that moment, I suddenly understood why the rivalry between our nations extended back into antiquity. For months, I became a savage beast during trench assaults. There was no greater feeling in the world than my shovel cleaving through a Frenchman between the neck and shoulder, or of watching a Frenchman drop dead as I squeezed the trigger of my rifle. Eventually, I calmed down. No amount of Frenchmen falling by my hands would ever bring my friend back. Still, for my actions during that period, I was transferred to Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 under Hauptmann Rohr, given additional training to become an elite stormtrooper.

* * *

John Shepard, Oberleutnant of the DWKS _Hanover SR-1_, sighed at the alarm signifying the end of his break, closing his book. The ship was absolutely top-of-the-line; a collaboration between the Deutsches Weltraum-Kolonialbund and the Turian Hierarchy to develop a new type of stealth frigate. The collaborative design tightening relations between Palaven and Earth, since First Contact had turned out to be a massive clusterfuck.

Two years after the discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars, a band of Batarian pirates, pursued by a Turian patrol fleet through the Attican Traverse, decided to try to escape by opening an uncharted Mass Relay. That mass relay lead directly into the edge of DWK territory, which was being patrolled by human ships. Believing the human ships to also be pirates, the Turian fleet opened fire on both the humans and Batarians, whilst the pirates believed the human ships to be rivals or a new Turian design. The humans, confused, fired on the Turians and the pirates. The pirate fleet was destroyed, as if an angry child had thrown building blocks around a room, with the Turians and humans taking heavy casualties, primarily from each other. At a standoff for six hours, they each sent their own First Contact packages, and within the next month or so, the situation was cleared up with the help of Asari diplomats and humans were introduced to the galaxy at large. Since then, the Turian Hierarchy and the Deutsches Weltraum-Kolonialbund had gotten along well, with the Turians finding the militaristic societies of the German Empire, United States and Novus Imperium Romanum not dissimilar to their own.

While the public face of the ship was to tighten relations, Shepard believed there was something more. The Salarian STG was far and away the best black-ops group in the galaxy; no other Council race could even hope to compete. Over the last fifty years, though relations were cool and only now warming as far as the public knew, the Turian Hierarchy and the DWK had grown very close, and behind closed doors, were all but an outright military alliance.

Walking into the bridge, he heard the pilot, Joker, thinking aloud as his hands flew across the holographic keyboard of the ship.

"The Arcturus Prime relay is in range, initiating transmission sequence. We are connected, calculating transit mass and destination. The relay is hot, acquiring approach vector. All stations, secure for transit…. Board is green, approach run has begun. Hitting the Relay in 3...2...1."

Shepard scarcely felt even a shudder as the ship interfaced with the Mass Relay and was thrown dozens of light-years away. Of the spaceships he had served on in the past, the vast majority had not even come close to how smooth the journey through the mass relay in the _Hanover _was.

Joker continued thinking aloud.

"Thrusters, check, Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift… just under 1500 K."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased." said Nihlus with an appreciative note in his voice. Nihlus was a Spectre, an elite member of the Citadel Special Tactics and Recon. In theory they were honorable arbiters of the Council's will, but their only real directive was to preserve the stability of the galaxy by any means necessary. They were more or less completely above the law. _Why_ a Spectre was on a mission that, as far as Shepard knew, was a shakedown run on a German garden world, he had no idea.

"I hate that guy." muttered Joker.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you… hate him?" asked Kaidan Alenko. Alenko was on the ground team for missions, but in the interim he served as a co-pilot, taking over for Joker during the long stretches of inaction so that Joker could sleep.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid." Alenko said flatly. "The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that is the _official_ story. But only an _idiot_ believes the official story."

"I agree." Shepard said. "They don't send Spectres on shakedown runs."

"There's more goin' on here than the Hauptmann's letting on."

"Joker! Status report." crackled the voice of Hauptmann Anderson over the intercom.

"Just cleared the mass relay, Hauptmann. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Kolonialbund brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye aye, Hauptmann. Better brace yourself, sir, I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Joker. Tell Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"You get that, Oberleutnant?" asked Joker.

"He sounds angry. Something must have gone wrong with the mission."

"Pff. He always sounds like that when he's talking to me."

"I can't_ possibly_ imagine why." Alenko replied.

Walking towards the comm room, Shepard heard Unteroffizier Jenkins having an animated discussion with the _Hanover_'s medical officer, Dr Chakwas.

"I just hope we get to see some real action, you know?"

Shepard walked up and stared at him with a haunted look on his face.

"Trust me, Jenkins, you don't want to see action. It changes a man, and usually not in a good way. People call me a hero, and the Pour le Mérite on my dress uniform confirms it, but the things I did in Torfan and on Akuze aren't the actions of a hero."

Jenkins looked sobered.

"Understood, Oberleutnant." he said, snapping a salute.

"I understand, though. I was a bright-eyed young officer once too." Shepard replied as he made to leave for the comm room.

"Anderson, Nihlus." he greeted the two men in the comm room, snapping a salute to Hauptmann Anderson.

"Shepard. Glad you could join us. As you may have guessed, this is more than a shakedown run. Planetary authorities on Eden Prime have discovered a Prothean beacon. According to Council law, all recovered Prothean technology must be brought to the Citadel for analysis. They sent me to make sure the mission goes smoothly. More importantly, the Council is looking to induct a human into the ranks of the Spectres. You are being considered as a candidate, and I have been sent to evaluate your performance on this mission." stated the Turian.

"Understood."

"If humanity gets their own Spectre, this'll improve the status of our species immensely. We _need_ this." stressed Anderson.

"Aye aye, Hauptmann."

"Nihlus, Anderson, video feeds are coming in from Eden Prime. Looks like they're being attacked by… something." the voice of Joker crackled over the intercom.

The video feed popped up on the screen that dominated one of the walls of the room.

DWK soldiers were running for cover and explosions were popping off left and right.

"This is Ashley Williams of the 212th, requesting immediate assistance, I repeat, requesting immediate assistance! We are under attack by an unknown enemy!" a woman's voice shouted.

The video feed panned up to reveal a massive ship, kilometers long, before being thrown to face a small boulder for several more seconds.

"Joker, rewind to 31 seconds."

The video pulled back, to reveal the hulking ship.

"What is that thing?" asked Shepard.

"No idea. I don't even know how it got in atmosphere, you'd need a gigantic eezo core to support a ship that big." replied Nihlus. "Rest assured, we will find out. We're going to be HALO jumping at an altitude of 11,000 metres, so I suggest you get your team ready."

Unlike the parachute jumps of the past, modern jumps involved small eezo rockets fitted onto the arms, legs and back of a hardsuit. A soldier would fire the rockets approximately 200 meters from the ground, running out of fuel at about thirty meters from the ground - however, modern hardsuits were rated to be safe in drops up to fifty meters. As the rockets passively took power from the suit's power supply, they would recharge within a minute or two of landing and could be used to allow someone wearing the armor to jump several times higher than normal.

Shepard tapped his omni-tool.

"Leutnant Alenko and Unteroffizier Jenkins, grab your gear and proceed to the comm room for mission briefing immediately." he spoke into the receiver.

"Yes sir!" came two messages within seconds of each other.

As they arrived, still strapping on the last pieces of their armor, Shepard took a position near the large screen on the leftmost wall of the comm room, displaying a map of the colony as he did so.

"Listen up! Joker was right about this not being a shakedown run, we're here to retrieve a Prothean beacon and bring it back to the Council for analysis, hence the Spectre. We'll be HALO jumping at an altitude of 11,000 meters. The estimated landing zone is here," he said, circling a point on the outskirts of the colony. "Also, we just received a transmission from the colony. They're under attack from an unknown enemy and from what I saw it was ripping up the 212th Infanterie, so be prepared. If there's no questions, get your asses down to the hangar and prepare for the jump, on the double!" Shepard spoke in a commanding tone.

Shepard ran down to the armory and quickly strapped on his armor. As he grabbed his rifle, he held a button on the side of it for half a second, causing the lights normally used for thermal warnings to flash green once, signifying that the gun had linked into his HUD. He felt a slight pinch in his arm as a needle smoothly slid into a vein, depositing nanobots which would, for the duration of the mission, link to the identical serum in the veins of his squadmates providing real-time, accurate data on the status of all three. If a squadmate were to be severely injured, the other parties would receive warnings on their HUDs along with recommended treatment. After the mission, the nanobots would deactivate flush out through the renal system. Otherwise, there was a standard suite that showed the heat of their guns, amount of fuel in their jump jets, enemy targeting, a GPS, and a compass.

"Oberleutnant, you'll be jumping in two minutes." came Joker's voice over the intercom.

"Got it, Joker. Alenko, Jenkins, get to the edge of the hangar bay."

"Hangar door opening, stand by." Joker said.

"Now, on three, two, one, GO GO GO!" Shepard shouted to his team. He saw Nihlus jump, Alenko and Jenkins taking a running jump out of the hangar bay. He felt his legs move of their own accord, sprinting forwards and leaping into the open air. The wind at eleven kilometers in the sky was ferocious, and it whipped past them as they threw themselves off the edge of the hangar bay ramp.

"Y'all right Unteroffizier?" shouted Alenko over the howling.

"Aye aye, Leutnant! This is my first jump outside of a training sim, the real thing's a fuck of a lot more exhiliarating!" Jenkins shouted back.

Shepard allowed himself a slight grin. The training sims were fine for teaching you how to do it, but to feel wind whipping past as you freefell for kilometers was a whole different beast. A soldier's first real jump was universally considered to be an awesome and terrifying experience throughout the Marines.

"Cut velocity in three, two, one!" Shepard shouted, using the jets attached to his ankles to push himself into an upright position. He then fired all eight of the small eezo rockets at full blast, slowing before allowing himself to freefall for about thirty meters, feeling his armor take the impact as he landed with a grunt.

"Everyone alright?" he said once everybody had gotten to the ground safely.

"Yes sir!" shouted Jenkins eagerly.

"Yeah, Oberleutnant, we're fine." grunted Alenko.

"Shepard - I'm almost at the tram station leading to the spaceport, meet you there. Going radio silent." the flanged voice of Nihlus came over the intra-squad radio.

"Alright, you heard the Turian, let's move!" Shepard commanded.

Everybody unlocked their rifles from the magnetic holster that they were kept on when not in use and unfolded them. They began a jog towards the tram station, when suddenly, some sort of robotic drones attacked them. Shepard's HUD flashed red as Jenkins dropped to the ground screaming in pain from severe plasma burns. Shepard and Alenko dove into cover, popping their heads out and shooting the drones to the ground as quickly as possible.

"Alenko, is he still breathing?"

"Nope. Plasma burned right through his shields. He's dead, Shepard."

"Leutnant, call in the Hanover to get his body out of here, we're not leaving a man behind. I'll go meet up with Nihlus and see if we can't finish the mission."

"Oberleutnant, you're being stupid. If there are more of those things and you die because I wasn't there, there's no point in this whole damn mission."

"Alenko, do you want to be the one sending a message to his parents saying we left their son's plasma-burned body to rot on Eden Prime?"

"No, sir. I'll call the Hanover."

"Good man."

Shepard raised his rifle and charged towards the dig site, dropping three more drones along the way.

He saw a few bipedal robots shooting at a woman with "212th Inf." emblazoned on her armor. Dropping into the cover beside her, he raised his rifle and shot down one of the robots.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Hauptfeldwebel Ashley Williams, 212th Infanterie, sir!" she shouted.

"Oberleutnant John Shepard, Sturmbataillon Nr. 5! What the hell are these things, anyways?" he replied, sticking his head up and dropping another one of the robots.

"From what I heard, Geth! Why the hell they're coming outside the Perseus Veil for the first time in 300 years is a question in and of itself."

"Geth, what the fuck…" Shepard muttered to himself as he dropped the last of the robots.

"Follow me, the dig site's to the west of here."

When the pair got to the dig site, the beacon wasn't there.

"Fuck, the beacon's not here. Evidently these geth bastards took it. Let's get to the colony proper, see if we can't meet up with Nihlus." Shepard said.

"Nihlus?"

"SPECTRE that's working with my team for the mission."

"I'm assuming that this has something to do with the beacon and is also way too classified for my paygrade, so I'm not even going to ask." replied Ashley.

"Shepard, change of plans. We'll rendezvous at a small spaceport near the science labs, meet you there." Nihlus' voice came through Shepard's helmet.

"Right, Williams, apparently we're meeting Nihlus at a spaceport near the science labs. You know which way to go?"

"North of here, Shepard."

"Got it."

As the two neared the science labs, Shepard raised his gun.

"Hell of a place for an ambush, Christ." he muttered.

The large spikes that several of the colonists were impaled on suddenly slid down. Some sort of what Shepard could only describe as a vaguely humanoid monstrosity of flesh and metal welded together by God knows what sprinted at them. Shepard held down the trigger on his rifle for fifteen seconds straight, to the point that he could feel the heat radiating off of his gun.

From the science lab, they saw glowing signs saying "STARPORT" with an arrow under it. Following the arrow, Shepard saw Nihlus crouch behind cover, before he saw another Turian, who he appeared to recognize, as he stood up and greeted him.

"Saren, what are you doing here? This isn't your mission."

"The Council thought you could use some help on this one." Saren replied.

"I wasn't expecting to find the Geth here. The situation's bad." Nihlus muttered.

"Don't worry, I have it all under control." said Saren, placing his gun to the back of Nihlus' head.

"Nihlus, duck!" shouted Shepard.

"What the f-" Nihlus started before throwing himself to the ground, just as a gunshot rang out over him.

Nihlus shot Saren several times, but instead of fight him, Saren just ran.

"Oberleutnant Shepard, good to see you. I suppose I owe you a debt now." Nihlus gave a turian version of a grin.

The three walked to the tram, dropping two geth along the way. As they got on the tram and were halfway to the spaceport, they heard Saren ordering around his Geth.

"We need to erase our tracks. Set charges to obliterate the colony." he ordered.

As the tram got to the end of the line, Shepard viciously hit a Geth shock trooper who was setting a charge in the head with the butt of his rifle and sprayed several rounds into it's prone body.

"Nihlus, Williams, look for the other charges. I'll disarm this one and any others I can find."

They saw the massive ship in the distance lift off the ground and fly into space.

When the charges were disarmed, the three regrouped and turned a corner to see the Prothean beacon, glowing green against the orange background of the setting sun.

"Shepard to Hanover, we are ready for pickup."

Ashley walked towards the beacon and was suddenly pulled into some sort of field around it. Shepard sprinted towards her and threw her out of the way before he was assailed by images.

_Death. Destruction. A whole race utterly obliterated. An overwhelming sense of doom._

The beacon suddenly exploded, and Shepard was thrown several feet, unconscious.

"Hanover, this is Nihlus. Shepard's down for the count, we need immediate medevac."

"Got it, we'll be there in two."

"You - help me carry him onto the Normandy when it arrives." Nihlus directed, pointing at Ashley.

* * *

Shepard's eyes snapped open. He rubbed his eyes, taking in his new surroundings. Gone was the bare steel and red sky of the Eden Prime sunset, instead he was in the Hanover's medical bay.

Dr. Chakwas tapped a message into her omni-tool.

_Agent Kryik, Hauptmann Anderson - Shepard's awake. I assume you want to come to the med-bay and talk to him._

Shortly after, Nihlus and Anderson walked into the medbay.

"Oberleutnant, glad to see you're awake. That was a nasty hit you took, how do you feel?" asked Nihlus.

"I have a killer migraine and I feel like I haven't moved in days, but otherwise I'm fine."

"Shepard, it's been two days since you got knocked out by that beacon. We were starting to wonder if you'd wake up at all. We're en route to the Citadel now." said Anderson.

Dr Chakwas pulled up a screen on her omni-tool.

"You're physically completely fine, but I did notice some unusual brainwaves throughout the time you were unconscious. Any idea what that beacon did to you?" asked the doctor.

"I saw… images. Death, destruction, and an overwhelming sense of fear and loss. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it was some kind of warning about whatever destroyed the Protheans."

"Hm. Whatever the case, you did well on the mission, even if it ultimately failed. I've forwarded my personal recommendation for the Council to grant you SPECTRE status. As for the issue with Saren, we'll need to present an official case to the Council." said Nihlus.

"The fact that he saved your ass probably didn't hurt." replied Anderson.

"No, it didn't. The Council is available for a hearing the day after we get to the Citadel, so take a day of shore leave with your crew." said Nihlus.

"Hauptmann, Oberleutnant, Agent Kryik, we're about two hours off from the Citadel." Joker's voice came over the ship-wide comms.

"Got it, Joker." replied Anderson.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Sorry for the super late update, somehow my original plan for the chapter got deleted which killed my motivation to write for months. It's out now though, and I'm revising my previous plans for the story.**

As the Hanover docked in Bay 422 of the Citadel, Shepard strapped his pistol and a small shield generator to his belt. Not as good as a hardsuit and assault rifle, but better than nothing if shit went south.

"Anderson, I'm gonna go grab lunch. Military rations are all fine and dandy, but I'd like some proper food. Anywhere you'd recommend?"

"There's this pretty good place in Zakera Ward, pretty close to the Presidium. Zakera Cafe, it's called. Small, hole in the wall place, but the Turian who runs it is a good man."

Walking out of the Hanover, Shepard walked up to the holographic Asari VI at the edge of the docking bay.

"Hello **Oberleutnant Shepard**, my name is Avina. I can guide you around the Citadel, recommend places to visit, or call a skycar for you."

"I need a skycar to Zakera Ward, the Upper Wards if that's possible."

"Command recognized. Please wait up to five minutes for your transportation."

Three minutes later, Shepard entered the self-driving skycar and took in the sights of the Citadel during the short trip to the Upper Wards. He grew up in Berlin, and while in his opinion, the beauty of the city was incomparable to any other place in the galaxy, the Citadel had it's own majesty.

He walked into Zakera Ward, seeing a sign that read "Zakera Cafe - Take a left from the sign into the market square and look for the glowing sign with our name on it. We serve both dextro and levo!"

As he approached the cafe, the usual sounds of the Citadel were overrun by that of desperate footsteps, the cracks of gunshots and a scream. A purple-masked Quarian dropped to the ground before him, obviously severely injured. He dragged the quarian behind a corner and pulled out his pistol.

"The fuck's going on here?" he yelled.

"Those thugs are hunting me down. They've already killed my friend Keenah, and I suspect I've not got long either. I'm on my pilgrimage, I don't want to die now." she cried.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Right. miss Zorah, stay here, I'll deal with them." Shepard said, popping up and fired two shots into one of the thug's chests. He dropped to the ground, dead before he could register he had been shot. He stood up, pointing his gun at the two thugs.

"Oberleutnant Shepard, DWK Marines! Drop your weapons!" he commanded.

"Fuck you, asshole!" replied one of the two remaining thugs, raising his gun. Shepard dove into cover before he fired.

"Fuck you too." Shepard muttered, as he stood up and put a round through the next thug's skull.

"Who do you work for?" he demanded of the last thug.

"I'm not telling you shit, my boss'll make it fuckin' painful if I do."

"I will make it very, very painful if you don't, and I'm standing right here." Shepard threatened.

"Oh yeah? Then fuck this, I don't owe either of you shit!"

The thug took his gun, put it under his chin and pulled the trigger.

He walked over to one of the bodies and picked up their gun. Checking the ammo block, he swore explosively. They had been using guns loaded with polonium rounds, which were highly illegal in Council space as a result of the fact that a gunfight could leave an area covered in fallout for months. While polonium was fairly easy to put up barriers against, if someone didn't know it was there, they'd be fucked, and Lord help whoever got it in their bloodstream. _Speaking of which…_

Shepard pointed at a random person.

"You, tell me where I can find the closest hospital. They need to be able to treat quarians."

"Dr Michel's clinic, go up the stairs at the other end of the market on the right, you'll find it there."

"Thank you."

Shepard walked up to Tali.

"Listen, you've been hit with a polonium round. Don't try to walk, you don't want your blood moving more than it has to for now, I'll carry you to the clinic."

"Thank you, but I don't know your name."

"Oberleutnant John Shepard, Sturmbataillon Nr. 5." he grunted as he lifted her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and walked towards the stairs.

Walking into the clinic, he laid her down on a stretcher and called the doctor.

"Not often do I see a quarian in here, what happened?" the doctor asked.

"She got hit with a polonium round. The people who did it are dead." Shepard said shortly.

The doctor removed a long needle from a sterilized tube and injected Tali with it. Almost instantly, Shepard heard her breathing grow longer and more even.

"Anaesthetic, should put her to sleep and slow down her heart rate to stop radiation poisoning while I work." she explained. "I'll need to sterilize the area, pull the round out, give anti-radiation and anti-cancer shots, make sure there's no organ or cardiovascular damage, seal the wound… why are you still here, go to C-Sec to report the shooting. Officer Vakarian should be able to help you." Dr. Michel said, shooing Shepard away with a gesture.

"Where can I…"

"Down the elevator to the Lower Wards, go straight forward, it'll be on your right."

"Alright, thanks."

* * *

"Hello?" Shepard said as he walked into C-Sec. "I was told to talk to Officer Vakarian to report a shooting?"

A turian with jagged blue face-paint answered him.

"You're talking to him. Where was the shooting?"

"About thirty meters away from the door to Zakera Cafe, in the Upper Wards."

"Did you happen to get any names, witnesses, etcetera?"

"I killed all three of the shooters, the quarian girl that got shot survived. Her name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, apparently she was on pilgrimage. I took her to Dr. Michel's clinic for treatment."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

"All three of the shooter's guns were loaded with polonium rounds."

"Fuck, the whole area's gonna have to be quarantined for the next four hours at least. Your name?"

"John Shepard, Kolonialbund Marines."

"Alright, I'll call a HAZMAT team to quarantine the area, you can come with me. We'll head up to Dr Michel's office and see if we can learn more from her or the quarian."

* * *

Walking into the clinic, the two heard gunshots.

"Jesus fuck, is this _normal_ in the Citadel?" Shepard asked.

"No, we have the occasional mugging or drug deal, but it's nothing on this scale."

There was a thug at the back of the room, holding a gun to Dr. Michel's head.

"Listen, this is how this is gonna work. We're going to kill the doctor, you're going to give us the quarian, and we're going to walk out of here without any interference." said the thug.

Garrus pulled out his sniper rifle and shot the thug in the head. Suddenly, all hell broke loose, but between Garrus and Shepard, the number of thugs very quickly dropped.

"I want to question this last one, don't shoot him, Vakarian."

Shepard walked up to the thug and pointed his gun at him.

"Who the _fuck_ do you work for?" he demanded.

"Fuck you." said the thug, spitting at Shepard's feet.

Shepard moved his pistol from the thug's chest to his knee and pulled the trigger.

The thug screamed in agony.

"Fine… I'll tell you, but I want treatment for my knee after."

"Deal." Shepard replied.

"Saren Arterius. The quarian had information on him, he wanted her dead."

Shepard's face tightened in anger.

"Interesting." Shepard said.

"Well, are you going to treat my knee or not?" the thug demanded.

"I lied." Shepard said, aiming his gun between the thug's eyes and pulling the trigger.

"Good on you, Shepard. The type of man that's loyal to someone like Saren isn't the type that should be given mercy." said Garrus.

"I disagree, he might have been more useful in police custody." replied Dr. Michel.

"Back to the point; Dr. Michel, is there anything you or the quarian can tell me about the shooting? I'm filing a report back at the office, I'd like to get C-Sec proper involved in it."

"Beyond what Shepard's already told you, no. When the quarian wakes up, if you both give me an extranet address, I can refer her to you two."

Shepard tapped a command into his omni-tool, sending his extranet address to Dr. Michel.

"Anything further I can do, Officer Vakarian?" Shepard asked.

"Give me your extranet address. The quarian's more likely to follow up with you than she is with me; C-Sec doesn't tend to be great to quarians. Given your reaction to Saren's name, the fancy new ship that just docked on this level and your Kolonialbund uniform, I can reasonably assume you're hunting the fucker. I want in."

"We're not 'hunting' him yet, but just between you and me, I fully expect that's going to be the result of the trial tomorrow. If that's the case, I'll give you a call."

"Oberleutnant, miss Zorah is expected to awake within the next six hours. I would recommend that you talk to her when she does."

"I will. If there's nothing else, I'm gonna pop down to Zakera Cafe and get some proper food. Haven't eaten anything but military rations for weeks."

* * *

"Sir, both of our assassin teams failed." spoke a contrite Batarian.

Saren Arterius swore explosively. How the hell could two professional teams of highly-paid assassins, armed with polonium rounds, fail to kill a single spirits-damned _quarian?_ You could kill them by coughing on them!

"This is the second time you've failed me. There will not be a third. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir. Absolutely."

"Glad we cleared that up. Dismissed."

A knock came at the door.

"What do you want now?" he demanded.

"Sir, the matriarch wishes to inform you that we've found the location of the Cipher. According to her research, it can be found on Feros."

"Good. Set a course there immediately. Make sure we aren't tailed."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Shepard strolled down the bridge to the _Hanover's_ airlock, idly pausing to admire the sleek, but starkly geometric lines of the ship. It looked more like one of the fighter jets developed during the Kalterkrieg, or as it was referred to by American and Canadian historians, the War Without War, the long period of high tensions between the monarchist powers of Europe and the democratic powers of the Americas following the Second Weltkrieg, than it did a naval frigate. He walked into the airlock, cracking his knuckles as the decontamination cycle ran.

Before settling down into a sleeping pod, he uttered a short prayer for Jenkins.

"Dear Lord Jesus and Mary, Mother of God, hold all these brave souls in the palm of your hand, comfort them and their families. Send angels of protection, love and comfort to all the servicemen still at war, bring them home safely and comfort their families. We all ask our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen."

Tomorrow, after the trial, he would write a letter to Jenkins' family telling them that he had fought and died valiantly. It wasn't entirely true, but better for them to think he had gone down fighting than been instantly blasted into molten slag by weapons that Kolonialbund armor simply wasn't equipped to deal with. How cruel it is that Jenkins, a lad of twenty at the most, should fall on his first mission, yet Shepard should survive to nearly thirty and win a Pour le Mérite for actions that bordered on war crimes.

* * *

With that unpleasant thought, Shepard fell asleep and into a nightmare.

_They were walking through the passageways of the underground complex. The local farmers had mentioned that this was a safe way through without irregulars or defenses, and for now they had decided to trust them._

_Their trust proved to be misplaced, however, as one of the troops, a young man by the name of Heinrich, heard the telltale click of a land-mine as his boot went down. An expression of pure terror crossed his face, followed by a grim resolve. _

_His fingers scrabbled at his pockets, searching for a letter._

"_Shepard. Please take this to my parents. And… tell them I died with honor."_

_Shepard clapped him on the shoulder._

"_More than that, I'll make sure you get a damn medal. You're a good man, Heinrich. I'm sorry it had to end this way."_

_A ghost of a smile crossed Heinrich's face._

"_Thanks, Shepard. Whenever you come knocking on the pearly gates, beer's on me. Now run."_

_Shepard and his team ran._

"_What do we do now? The other passages are totally blocked off by machine guns, and we don't have the troops to get through the minefield." asked Kpl. Richards._

"_We don't have to use our own troops. Round up the farmers who sent us through here." said Shepard with gritted teeth._

"_But how do we know they're partisans?" asked Richards._

"_They're all fucking partisans." Shepard spat. "And I don't see you coming up with another way through."_

"_By your orders, Oberleutnant."_

_They walked back to where they had initially found the farmers. The batarians looked contrite as they saw the three troops with the eagle of the Kolonialbund emblazoned on their armor marching back with fury in their eyes. _

"_All of you fucking partisans, follow me. You try to make a move against me, you die. You try to run, you die. If you do not do _exactly _as I tell you, you die. If I am the one that kills you, I will drill all four of your fucking eyes out with my knife, I know you filthy greenskins have some religious beliefs with regards to that. Richards, Francke, march behind them, if they try to run, execute them." Shepard commanded._

"_Now, since you oh so kindly pointed out this allegedly safe passageway for us, you get to have the honor of going through it." Shepard said with a vicious grin._

"_But huma-"_

_Shepard fired a shot, missing the protesting Batarian's skull by an inch._

"_That was a warning shot. The next one will not be a warning. Now move your ass!"_

_One Batarian began moving through, jumping in erratic patterns, presumably to avoid the mines._

_A bullet tore through his knee. He fell to the ground with a scream, only for his scream to be abruptly cut off by an explosion._

"_Walk as if you were regular soldiers!" Shepard bellowed._

_The next Batarians hurried through, several "click-boom" sounds resounding through the corridor._

"_Should be safe now. We can walk through, but stay on your guard." said Shepard, motioning for his squad to follow him._

_As soon as they got through the passageway, they were met with a four-way junction._

"_Check your corners." Shepard said. "Something's not right here."_

_He was correct, because dozens of Batarians with an assortment of melee weapons and simple slug-throwing guns came pouring from the passageways._

"_Fire at will!" he shouted._

_Automatic gunfire mowed down several of them, but they kept coming. Shepard dropped his gun, now out of ammo and useless. He slammed his fist into a Batarian's throat, pulled his knife and opened a clean cut across another's neck, and slammed the knife into another's skull. _

"_Sir! You all need to escape, I'll cover you!" shouted Richards. In his hand, Shepard noticed he was holding an incendiary grenade._

"_Damnit Richards, I've already lost one man today, I don't need to lose two!" he shouted._

"_With respect sir, I've made my decision. They won't stop coming. Get the fuck out of here with Francke."_

_With no time to react otherwise, Shepard viciously tore his knife from the dead Batarian and ran down one of the passages, slamming elbows and fists into any Batarians in the way._

"_Burn in hell, you green-skinned pieces of shit." growled Richards as he pulled the pin on his grenade and slammed it into the ground in front of him._

_Shepard felt the heat of the blast and distinctly heard the crackling of flesh melting off of bones and the screaming of Batarians. Apparently, the smell of overcooked pork didn't change between species. A sudden, morbid curiosity struck him; did burning Turian smell like chicken?_

"_Right, this plan went tits-up. Bloody four-eyes are better dug-in than we expected. Francke, see if you can hack into the servers of this place, find a map. Last thing I can think of is we find the main reactor and force the goddamn thing to overload. See if you can find plastic explosives or accelerants as well, I want anything I can use for area denial."_

"_Give me a minute. Looks like we got an armory fairly close to here, a service elevator to the reactor level can be found fairly close to that. I'd expect heavy guarding."_

"_So long as they don't bloody swarm us like they did back there, should be fine. Think you can set off an alarm somewhere else in Torfan?"_

_Francke tapped a command into his omni-tool._

"_Done."_

_Shepard quietly walked towards the armory, Francke in tow. Two fairly heavily armored Batarians were guarding the door. Not that that was an issue. He silently pulled out his knife and gestured for Francke to do the same. A hard look passed between the two soldiers, and almost simultaneously, they exploded into action, slamming their knives into a softer point of the Batarian's armor, located just under the chin. They nodded at each other before searching the armory. Shepard picked up a new rifle to replace the one he had dropped in the horde of Batarians that had attacked them at the four-way and also noticed a handheld flamethrower, which he picked up. _

"_Probably useful." He grunted._

_Francke, meanwhile, picked up several bricks of what _looked_ to be a Batarian variant of C-4 as well as a detonator and wires and packed them into his kit._

"_Now, to the reactor."_

"_Shepard, the main mission might have failed, but I have an idea as to how it can succeed."_

"_Do tell."_

"_Overload the reactors. Find the main security station, lock all exits and change the keycodes. Find an exit, blow it open and get the fuck out before we die of radiation poisoning. Use your new toy to napalm it once we're out."_

"_Got it."_

_The two ran to the service elevator and slammed the button to descend to the reactor level. Funnily enough, there were only two scientists located in the level. _

"_Damn, your false alarm did a number, eh?" grinned Shepard._

"_They're hitting their own mines." Francke replied with a slight grin._

_The two marched into the room and immediately aimed their guns at the scientists._

"_On the fucking floor, right now! If you don't do _exactly_ as we say, you die." Shepard commanded._

"_I thought humans were supposed to be merciful." said one of the scientists, on the verge of tears._

"_We were, right up until your filthy fucking partisans decided to lead us through a minefield. Now, are you going to comply or are we going to put bullets through your skulls and carve your fucking eyes out?" Francke demanded._

"_We'll do as you ask."_

"_Alright. Now, disable all safeguards on the reactors, remove the coolant and set them to overload."_

"_Human, you cannot possibly do this. This is genocide!" one of the scientists said._

"_Big fucking words you're using there considering what your brethren did to the humans in the Skyllian Verge."_

"_We weren-"_

"_Quite frankly, I don't give a fuck. For all I care, every single one of your filthy compatriots are responsible for what happened on Mindoir and Elysium."_

"_Alright. The reactors have been overloaded. You have about half an hour before you die of radiation sickness. I hope you suffer, human."_

"_One last thing. Where's the central security station?"_

"_Room to the left. You'll never survive, it's guarded by our best men."_

"_Challenge accepted. Francke, shall we?"_

"_Yes sir!" _

_The two assault rifles fired a single shot, each dead center._

_Francke went to unsheath his knife._

"_Don't." Shepard said._

"_Thought you hated the Bats?" Francke said._

"_I do. But, we agreed that they wouldn't have their eyes carved out if they followed our directions. We're better than that filth. Now, take position." Shepard replied._

_The two men took position at either side of the door to the security station._

"_Three, two, one." Shepard said._

_He booted open the door, catching two of the guardsmen by surprise. However, Francke wasn't so lucky, catching a couple of bullets in the chest. Their shields had long been depleted, so they passed right into his flesh. Francke gunned down the other two. _

"_Shepard, I'm a dead man walking, but I can still hack the doors. I got that in me at least. Get the fuck out of here, now, I'll transfer omni-tool coords to the nearest exit." Francke commanded._

_Shepard swore explosively._

"_Francke, I'm not leaving you here! I've already lost half my damn squad!"_

"_You heard what the Bat said, half an hour at most. I'll only slow you down. You can't afford that. It's been an honor, Oberleutnant." Francke said, unbuckling his LBEs and handing them to Shepard. _

_Shepard took the bricks of Batarian plastic explosives from his final squadmate's storage pouches and placed them into his own. He would need them if he stood a chance in hell of getting out of here alive._

"_The same to you, Lanze-Korporal." Shepard replied._

"_Fur Kaiser, Gott und Vaterland." Francke grunted._

"_Fur Kaiser, Gott und Vaterland." Shepard agreed._

_The next twenty minutes were a complete blur as Shepard fought his way to the nearest door, shooting through several Batarians desperately trying to escape._

_Finally he reached the exit. He scrabbled for the explosives, coughing up blood as he did so. When he found them, he made a makeshift breaching charge and attached it to the doors, stepped back, and hit the detonator. He almost fell out on to the surface of the moon then, but in his last conscious breaths, pulled his flamethrower and let loose a mighty blast of flame._

* * *

The beeping of Shepard's alarm clock woke him.

He walked out of his sleeping pod and into the mess to have a coffee, when Pressley came up to him.

"Oberleutnant, there's a matter that requires your attention."

"What could possibly require my attention this early in the morning?" he asked.

"A quarian came up to the docking bay about half an hour ago, said she was looking for you. I shooed her off for now, but she'll be back."

"Did she give her name?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, she's Zorah something or other."

"Good. Do you know where she is now?"

"If I were to hazard a guess, just outside the docking bay. She was very persistent. Judging by your interest, I assume you have business with her?"

"Indeed. I'll talk to her after I have my coffee."

"Miss Zorah, you wanted to meet with me?" Shepard asked. He was shocked, however, when the quarian launched herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Uh…"

She released him, suddenly seeming to realize what she had done and giving what Shepard assumed was the quarian equivalent of a blush.

"Sorry, it's just that you saved my life and made sure I was cared for at the hospital and no other person outside of the fleet has ever-"

Shepard brushed off her praise.

"Think nothing of it. Any man who fights for the Kolonialbund would have done the same. I suspect, however, that thanking me for saving your life was _not_ the primary purpose of asking to meet with me."

"No. If the Kolonialbund news station is right, you were involved in the mess on Eden Prime, right?"

"Yeah."

"I have irrefutable proof of Saren Arterius being responsible for the attack."

"Do tell."

She handed him an OSD. "Long story short, earlier in my pilgrimage I captured a geth and managed to extract a large amount of memory from it. That OSD contains everything."

"Why were you hunting Geth?"

"We wondered what they were doing so far outside the Perseus Veil. We wanted to see if it was a potential threat to the Migrant Fleet."

Shepard connected his omni-tool to the implanted earbuds that all Earthborn humans were given at birth.

"Eden Prime was a victory." came the voice of Saren. "The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." came another, unidentified female voice.

"Holy shit." Shepard muttered. "Miss Zorah, later today, Saren is going on trial. I'm going to need you to come with me. This evidence could well prove to be the nail in Saren's coffin."

"Call me Tali, 'miss Zorah' makes me feel like I'm at elementary school." she requested.

"Alright then, _Tali_, I'm going to need you to come with me to Saren's trial."

"Absolutely. Anything involving the Geth is a concern of mine." she said instantly.


End file.
